Who should lead the Liberals? 'None of the above,' poll finds

As questions loom over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, a new Nanos Research poll commissioned for CTV News says a quarter of Canadians say none of the potential Liberal leadership candidates appeal to them.

The survey offered people a selection of potential candidates to lead the party, including the current leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a range of cabinet ministers and other high-profile Canadians. Of those polled, most selected “none of the above.”

“It means that right now, there's no saviour for the Liberal party,” Nanos Research founder Nik Nanos said in an interview with CTV News.

The poll also found that among those surveyed, former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is the most appealing leadership candidate with 18 per cent support, followed by Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland who are tied at 11 per cent.

Carney is currently serving as the Liberal party’s economic advisor and has said he plans to enter elected politics but won’t say when or what job he wants.

Last month, Trudeau rebuffed calls from two dozen Liberal MPs for him to resign, leading some to call for a secret ballot vote on his leadership.

In response to those concerns within caucus, the Liberals have since released new digital ads in a bid to contrast the party from the Conservatives, who continue to significantly lead in the polls.

According to the new Nanos poll, four per cent say former B.C. premier Christy Clark is the most appealing leadership candidate.

In a statement to CTV News in October, Clark said she would “want to be part of the conversation on the future direction of the Liberal Party and of the country” but acknowledged “the position of Liberal leader is not going to be available any time soon.”

Clark also said in an interview with CTV’s Power Play that she is open to returning to politics.

"I have never said, from the minute I left politics, that I was going to close the door on politics forever," Clark told Power Play host Vassy Kapelos.

Other cabinet ministers included in the poll are Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Transport Minister Anita Anand, Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc and Housing Minister Sean Fraser – who all received less than five per cent support each.

“It's pretty clear there are different tiers of leadership options, at least for the Liberals,” Nanos said. “But if you're a Liberal, you’re probably disappointed to see that none of the above actually does quite well.”

Methodology

1,010 random interviews recruited from an RDD land- and cell-line sample of Canadians aged 18 years and over, between November 4 to 6, 2024. The margin of error for this survey is 3.0 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.